Lord of the Wild Hunt
The Lord of the Wild Hunt is an elven psychopomp, who is depicted as a great skeletal figure with the skull of a stag, clothed in black robes, who stalks the land with a great longbow. According to elven myth, the Lord of the Wild Hunt (often called the 'Hunter') was exiled from the realm of heaven and remains a pariah among the old elven gods. According to Wutog, the avatar of this divine force can be invoked and challenged at a shrine to a god of death, such as Bhaal, Pharasma, or Anubis. Wutog warns against a deadly battle, since you will be fighting against death itself. The Hunter and the Stag In the time of creation, all of the old elven gods worked together to build the world and to fill it with all the animals and creatures, including the first elves. When they had finished, the gods rejoiced for they had made a paradise for their people, and they returned to heaven to prepare a great celebratory feast. Yomannon Aule brought the harvests with her and made the food, while the Sun brought lights, and all the other gods helped out in their own ways. The Hunter was the only god who had not helped in creating the world, and feeling shame, he vowed to bring to the feast something that no god had ever seen. He stole Corellon's bow and went down to the forests of paradise where he searched. Hunter searched but all he found were the creations of other gods. The Hunter proclaimed he would find nothing new here, and turned to leave but was startled by a stag running through the forest. Hunter fired the bow in surprise, killing the stag. Hunter examined the body and realized with great joy he had found something no other god had seen, and brought it to the feast. The elven gods were feasting and celebrating when the Hunter returned with the body of the stag across his shoulders. He offered the body to the gods, but they were furious for what he had done. "You have brought death into paradise, may the stag's fate be forever upon your head!" And the Hunter's head became the skull of the stag he had killed. Hunter was exiled, so he wandered the world and kept using the stolen bow. To this day, the Hunter walks the world bringing death with him. The Hunter and the Swan Back in the old days, when the elves were the only people, the spirits did not hide from the world and walked openly. One of these was the Hunter, a great black-robed spirit with the skull of a stag. He had been exiled from the gods, and forbidden to use his bow to kill. After many years the world became full of elves and beasts and there was no room for them to live. A young elven girl called Cygnus grew up in this time and saw how miserable the people had become. There were too many people to feed, so the people became hungry and thirsty and they did not die. There were too many people to keep clean, so the people became dirty and sick and they did not die. There were too many people who knew hatred, so the people would war and fight and they did not die. Cygnus knew the Hunter, and she often saw him in the woods. Year after year she would visit him and he told her to go away. She was not afraid of him because he could not kill her, so she visited him often and he told her to leave just as often. One day after many thousands of years, the Hunter relented and answered Cygnus' questions. She asked Hunter why he did not use his bow to kill the people and the animals. The Hunter told her why he was exiled and that he was forbidden to use the bow. Cygnus pleaded with him, saying their world was no longer a paradise but not because of death, because there was no death, and she needed his help. Intrigued, the Hunter followed Cygnus to the heavens, where she begged the gods to let death to return to the world. The gods were hesitant, they had seen death once before and knew if they allowed it again, they would never be able to stop it. "Without death we do not value the lives you have given us," Cygnus pleaded and the gods conceded. They told Cygnus that when the people died, they would join the gods in heaven so that the world always had room for more people. At this point Coyote said, "Only the good people should come to heaven, for I do not want a greater trickster than me to enter," and the gods unanimously agreed (Coyote smiled because there were no greater tricksters than he, but he did not want heaven to become too full). The gods allowed Hunter to use his bow to bring death to the world, but Hunter demanded a boon of the gods. He demanded that Cygnus never die as the men and women of the world do. The gods were curious and asked why she be spared. The Hunter answered that she was his only friend and that he would never kill his friend. The gods agreed and made Cygnus a god, neither man nor woman, who would never die as either. Quests *Ruined Scrolls and Prophecy Category:Deity Category:History